Mixels make a splash (page)

Man, I really never intended to post as often as I have been these last few days! Nor did I intend to behave like a news site. So when this dropped a couple of hours ago, I told myself to hold back.

I can't. This is too interesting. We have some jaw-dropping new elements coming in March 2014 as part of a kooky new intellectual property (IP) called LEGO® Mixels.

© 2013 The LEGO Group

© 2013 The LEGO Group

© 2013 The LEGO Group

The grey chappie is called Seismo and his eye is part 14769 White Flat Tile 2X2 Round presumably with a print rather than sticker. This will be a great pairing with existing eye tile, element 6029156 White Flat Tile 1X1 - Round "No. 8", to create things like pairings of big and small creatures. Next, look at the ball joints he is articulated with. This is the classic "towball" connection but the male and female couplings seem to have 1x2 plates with hollow studs. Gamechanging news for mini mecha!

Pic taken by leanalynn

The Red [BL] / Bright Red [TLG] thingy in the centre is called Flain, and what a cute little guy with that SNOTty head. Facebook follower Andrew Barnick suggested to me the eyes must be part 32474 Voodoo Ball Ø10,2, more commonly (and relatively drearily) known as the Technic ball joint. Here it is sporting what must surely be a print, as a sticker would come off sharpish. That's such an amazing eye piece! Are we buzzing with silly ideas yet? For Flain the leg joints seem to use existing towball elements or perhaps new versions with smaller plates, but never mind all that, have you spotted the feet? Another Facebook follower Scott Barnick (I'm guessing that Scott might be a relation of Andrew's!) pointed them out to me. Teeth stuck on a 1X2 piece. Is it all one part? I think so... a new tooth part that you could just stick on a stud would be fantastic if the clutch were OK, but these teeth look too narrow to cover a stud.

Finally, the Yellow [BL] / Bright Yellow [TLG] coloured Volectro who seems to be channeling the Yeti from Monsters Inc. Most noticeable is of course the hair, which is part 6064 Bush in Bright Light Orange [BL] / Flame Yellowish Orange [TLG]. And note the recent part 11477 Plate W. Bow 1X2X2/3 (which I nicknamed the baby bow) used on his hands and his...erm, what is that, an upper lip? Odd they used two 1X2 bows there instead of one 1X4, my guess is that it was cheaper to include two of a part already in the inventory.

Anyone for anything else? How can so much excitement come out of one solitary splash page image and a blurry Instagram?

The name Mixels is obviously a play on the work pixels, which suggests a strong online element. Furthermore, Brickset user Brickarmor suggested the 'eye' dot above the I in the Mixels logo could additionally refer to a webcam icon. Twitter user TikiGal, who presumably tweeted from SDCC, tantalisingly described them as "mix n match sets". So perhaps interchangeability is at the heart of what the character are, which makes sense given what LEGO is all about!

As the copyright below the official pic states, Mixels is a trademark of TLG. And there's nothing on the web yet from Cartoon Network about a Mixels TV show, although as Brickset user Paperballpark thought to look up, Time Warner (of which Cartoon Network is a subsidiary) have bought the mixels.com domain. So what's the story with this IP? Is this a co-production with Cartoon Network, or in a reversal of the traditional situation, have Cartoon Network secured the TV rights to a LEGO IP? My (wholly unscientific but mildly educated) guess is that TLG have learnt from Ninjago's success and rather than just being some 'TV tie-in', the Mixels IP will exist on TV, online and in reality via LEGO sets like these, so that kids can 'consume' the product in any or all of these ways. It's the feutchaaa.

But enough pontificating from me. I'm sure we'll find out very soon.